I’m going to say this upfront. Avengers: Endgame is a fantastic movie that serves as a perfect culmination of the past 11 years and 22 movies that make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s a lot that the movie has to do and it does it all so well that it’s easy to forgive any flaws that the movie has.
To say anything specific about the story would be to delve into spoiler territory, but the story is shocking and surprising to say the least. The brains over at Marvel have been very secretive about the plot of the movie, opting to show barely anything in the marketing of the movie. There were reports that the marketing would only showcase footage from the first 15 minutes of the movie, and that was basically true. This is a movie that is totally best experienced if you know little to nothing about it. If you’ve seen any trailer for this movie and haven’t watched anything else then you’re in for loads of shocks, and surprising twists and turns.
That being said, the way the movie deals with the massive loss that everyone suffered at the end of Infinity War is great. It takes its time to show us how everyone in the world, as well as our heroes, have been affected by such a tragic event. Things are dour and depressing. Our heroes have been changed by this event and are doing the best they can to keep on going day after day. They’re dealing with things in their own way (some better than others) and it allows us to sit in this very different world where fifty percent of the population has suddenly vanished.
This is what comprises much of the first act of the movie, so when the team starts to execute their plan to undo Thanos’ snap, the pace starts to pick up some and the tone changes. The Russo brothers and their screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely deftly handle this with the perfect blend of comedy and seriousness, as we’ve seen them do in all their past Marvel movies. They also manage to keep things moving along at a speedy pace without anything feeling like it’s rushed at all. By the time the movie comes to an end, it doesn’t even feel like it’s been three hours.
Speaking of how well handled this movie is, major props have to be given to the Russos, Markus, and McFeely. This movie is one that’s been built up to for so long. They had the unenviable task of juggling all the different characters that are in the movie and giving them all their due diligence, with a number of them having character arcs that needed to be closed, and they successfully managed to do that. If this is truly the last time that we’re going to see a number of these characters, then this is the perfect way for them to go out.
The biggest thing about this movie that genuinely surprised me was the vast amount of fan service that’s in it. Whether it’s a callback to a previous movie, a line of dialogue, or even entire scenes, there’s a lot of fan service in this movie. It’s all done well though and is totally welcome seeing as how this is the finale of the MCU so far. It just makes sense that we the fans get served some really cool and funny stuff. The entire final act of the movie is giant fan service and it’s honestly glorious to watch it all play out.
If I have any complaints, it’s that the plan the team comes up with to undo Thanos’ snap can be a bit confusing and open potential plot holes if you really try to dig into it. The movie does its best to easily explain it, but the more you think about it, the harder it becomes to understand. It’s honestly best to just watch the movie and not think too hard about things.
At the end of the day, Avengers: Endgame is a fantastic movie. This culmination of the story of the MCU so far is near perfect, and is potentially the best Marvel movie ever. Endgame delivers in every category and exceeded every expectation that I had for it. It’s quite simply everything that a comic book fan could’ve asked for from this movie.
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